Update: Police investigating body parts found in Cliffside Park as a homicide

Authorities this morning are looking for more body parts in Cliffside Park after the discovery Monday of a head, torso and two severed arms, said John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor.

A law enforcement source said the victim is believed to be Francisco R. Gonsalez, 46, who was reported missing on Sunday after he failed to show up for work at a Palisade Avenue café. The police dogs started their search at Gonsal­ez’s apart­ment on Palisade Avenue before making their way down Cliff Street, where a man’s torso and head were found in a bag behind a church, the source said.

Two severed arms and some knives were found up the street near a house that is under construction, the source said. Authorities said the case is being investigated as a homicide.

The body parts were taken to the county medical examiner’s office, where officials will conduct a forensic exam to identify the victim and the cause of death, Molinelli said in a statement.

Police officers stood guard outside Gonsalez’s apartment on Monday afternoon. Later Monday night, friends who had gathered there cried as a sheriff’s vehicle carrying the remains pulled away from the scene.

A Cliff Street resident, Robert Issa, said police arrived in the neighborhood around 10 a.m. Monday. Issa said police asked him for footage from three closed-circuit cameras mounted on the wall outside his home.

Borough police referred questions to Molinelli, who did not respond to requests for additional information.

Gonsalez had worked as a prep cook at The Club House Café on Palisade Avenue for the past 15 years, said the café’s owner, Marc Snyder. Snyder said he last saw Gonsalez when he left work around 10 p.m. Saturday.

He said he called Gonsalez’s sister around 5 p.m. Sunday, an hour after he failed to show up on time for his 4 p.m. shift. Gonsalez’s sister contacted authorities, Snyder said.

“He has been working for me for 15 years,” Snyder said.

“He’s never late, so I knew something was wrong.”

Snyder said police told him the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office got involved after blood was found outside Gonsalez’s apartment.

Gonsalez was well known around Cliffside Park and was particularly popular in the borough’s Salvadoran community, Snyder said. Known affectionately as “Frisco,” Gonsalez was known to wave enthusiastically to friends and acquaintances as he made his way though the borough on foot, Snyder said.

“He was a folk hero, believe it or not,” Snyder said. “Everyone in town knows him.”

Gonsalez had returned on Dec. 20 from his annual trip to El Salvador, where he had surgery to remove a cyst from one of his eyes. Snyder said he typically would pay Gonsalez’s airfare to return to his native country.

Each year before his trip, Gonsalez was the guest of honor at a party where others would give him money to pass along to relatives back home, Snyder said.

Snyder said he had helped Gonsalez obtain his green card, though he was not sure if ­Gonsalez had gone on to petition the government for U.S. citizenship.